Helping hand

[JIMMIE]

Several years ago while needing a hand holding up the rear of the transmission on my van I grabbed a scissors jack out of my wife's car and it worked great. Since then I have used it many times and even made some little adapters to make it round object better. When she traded the car I kept her jack. Just finished using it to hold a garbage disposal in place while I tightened the retaining ring....This would be no great feat except I have pulled a muscle in my back and have been having muscle spasms for about 4 days. Plumber bill would have been about $100USD for maybe 20 minutes worth of work. Dont think the plumber could have done it any easier than this .

Jimmie

[JIMMIE]

Several years ago while needing a hand holding up the rear of the transmission on my van I grabbed a scissors jack out of my wife's car and it worked great. Since then I have used it many times and even made some little adapters to make it round object better. When she traded the car I kept her jack. Just finished using it to hold a garbage disposal in place while I tightened the retaining ring....This would be no great feat except I have pulled a muscle in my back and have been having muscle spasms for about 4 days. Plumber bill would have been about $100USD for maybe 20 minutes worth of work. Dont think the plumber could have done it any easier than this .

Jimmie

[Don Phillipson]

Also very helpful for repairs to a deck in situ, including replacement of pillars and joists.

[Dean Hoffman]

A come along is also a handy tool. Some are called rope hoists and are much handier for some things. I have a motorcycle jack but haven't found much use for it except lifting my motorcycle.

[aemeijers]

Good thing you found a use for scissor jacks- they aren't much use for lifting a car, IMHO. I used to own a couple of cheap floor jacks, but somehow in multiple moves by me and my family (while I was stuck in an apartment), they seem to have vanished. I probably oughta buy at least one of the HF ones, one of these days, even though I haven't jacked a car in probably ten years at this point. (I drive a lot less, and buy decent tires now, and can usually pump them up long enough to get them to the tire store.)

[The Daring Dufas]

Years ago, I installed and services store fronts and automatic doors, gates, access systems, etc and the handiest tool I had for that kind of work was a 4 ton hydraulic ram auto body kit. It was 25 years ago but the design doesn't seem to have changed much.

I could square up metal frames and raise whole assemblies to level them. You would be amazed at all the different uses I found for it.

TDD

[N8N]

I use a floor jack fairly regularly, and it's darn hard to find a good one. I currently have an ancient Sears brand one that has outlasted every new jack a friend of mine has bought over the years, but I don't trust that the quality is there in the Sears ones anymore. They're probably just brand-engineered Chinese stuff these days. Even the "Michelin" branded ones that look nice in the store have failed for my friend in only a couple years. Granted he uses them a LOT (works on old cars as a hobby) but still.

I would recommend Lincoln but I have heard that even they are Chinese made now :(

nate

[N8N]

generic name (and I ASSume the brand name of the original tool) is Porta-Power.

nate

[Tony Miklos]

I use them quite often also. I have a couple of the cheap $20-$25 ones that have lasted a long time but they always suck because the handle is under the car and hard to pump. I bought a new one where the handle can be swiveled almost any direction. Works nice for a little jack. I got a larger jack at HF that works well. It's bigger, more stable and the handle sticks out where it's easily pumped.

What was to be my best jack, an aluminum racing jack. It has a two stage pump. With no weight on it 2 pumps take it almost to the top. Under a car the first pump usually takes it to the frame, then the action goes to the smaller pump for more power. I loved this thing! Then while tightening the valve one day it striped out of the aluminum body. :-( One of these days I'd like to take it apart and install a heli core or similar. Or maybe take it to the local tech school where I go and drop it off in the machine shop class. It's kind of a bitch to tap the hole larger without getting filings into the pump, and I think the tap would bottom out before it does it's job so it has to be taken all apart. Hmm, I just had a thought if the tap is too long. I could tap it some, cut off the end of the tap and go further, maybe again? Rinse with lots of oil. Any thoughts?

[The Daring Dufas]

Well, it was an Asian made import like what Harbor Freight sells. I couldn't afford the domestically produced item but it was a whole kit of items based around a "Porta-Power" like system. :-)

TDD

[chaniarts]

use a bottoming tap.

[N8N]

I got that, my friend has the same thing I think, I was just pointing out the common name for it, kind of like "Kleins," "Vice-Grips" or "Channellocks" (which may be made by any number of mfgrs.)

nate

[The Daring Dufas]

Kleins, electrician's pliers, I often call them a double handled electricians hammer. Ideal makes a very good one. Vice Grip was about the only manufacturer of the ubiquitous locking pliers for many years. When I ask someone if they have any water pump pliers, I get blank stares until I tell them Channellock is one brand. If I ask for tongue-and-groove or slip-joint pliers, they start drooling. :-)

TDD

[Tony Miklos]

Thanks! I think I'll finally look for the right helicoil, or are there some other kits that work better? I remember seeing one that was supposed to be superior to helicoils but I forget what it was called?

[Hank]

A friend of mine was installing a heavy rangehood/light over his range on an island. He invited me and another friend over to help him lift it up so one of us could bolt it in place. After showing up and seeing how big and akward the task was going to be, I told him we should lay a couple 2/2's on the counter to bridge his range and then use his hydraulic motorcycle jack to lift it up and hold it in place. We did that and it worked like a charm. Using that lift made it a one-man job, not 3.

Hank

[N8N]

Time-Sert perhaps? they're spendy.

nate

[Tony Miklos]

I think there is another one similar to time-sert but not sure. Just watched a video and I'm not sure if it would work properly in this application. The last 3 threads have to make the hole 3 threads longer than original. The hole being repaired is the valve you loosen to lower the jack. Yikes! they are pricey, but so are the helicoils.